Sajid Javid accused of 'shocking' lack of action over review into ethnicity of grooming gangs

Home secretary under fire for shelving research - as Nazir Afzal, who brought the Rochdale grooming gang to justice, says he is 'in despair'

Rob Merrick
Deputy Political Editor
Tuesday 14 May 2019 11:18 BST
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Sajid Javid ordered a review of the 'characteristics' of grooming gangs – saying the abuse had 'disgraced our heritage'
Sajid Javid ordered a review of the 'characteristics' of grooming gangs – saying the abuse had 'disgraced our heritage'

A top prosecutor has accused Sajid Javid of a “shocking” lack of action after he promised to investigate claims that grooming gangs are mainly men of Pakistani heritage.

The home secretary ordered the review of the “characteristics” of the gangs behind child sexual exploitation last July – saying the abuse had “disgraced our heritage”.

Campaigners see progress as critical in the fight against far-right racism, warning people are being wrongly attacked “because of their ethnicity” as the controversy is exploited.

Now Nazir Afzal, the respected former chief crown prosecutor who brought the Rochdale grooming gang to justice, has said he is “in despair” over the lack of progress.

And Sarah Champion, a Labour MP, accused Mr Javid of effectively shelving the review, blaming home office officials who believe it is “too difficult”.

Mr Afzal revealed that neither he, nor other leading experts on this issue, had been approached by the home office.

“One of the reasons why these cases have taken so long to bring to justice is because police were the last people to understand the problem,” he told the Huffington Post website.

“On subject after subject, you get the home office saying they are going to do something and they end up not doing it and hoping that you will forget about it.

“This is seriously concerning given the fact that it’s being exploited by the far-right, the fact that there are people who are suffering physically because they are being attacked because they are being accused of being offenders just because of their ethnicity.”

Mr Afzal also warned that victims were being given “false reassurance” because of the media focus on one model of child abuse, carried out by largely Pakistani grooming gangs.

Mr Javid promised the research in a letter to a cross-party group of 20 MPs led by Ms Champion, who told the website she had seen “no evidence” to suggest the pledge was being honoured.

“The communications I have had makes me think they are deliberately trying to cover their tracks about commissioning and delivering that research,” she said.

Ms Champion said she believed the home secretary “genuinely wants to have this research done”, but blamed officials for deciding “it is for whatever reason too difficult” and instead pursuing “a muddle around the edge”.

The research was important to counter the far-right with evidence which might show that people had been “completely misinterpreting” the common ethnicity of many of the abuser, she said.

“It could be that the police are deliberately targeting men of Pakistani heritage and ignoring all the other criminal gangs that are going around doing this kind of thing,” Ms Champion said.

“I literally don’t know and this is the problem, because we haven’t got that research to put this to bed. Both myself and many other people with some pretty nasty intentions are speculating, and it’s not helpful.”

However, a home office spokesperson insisted Mr Javid had “made it clear that it is his mission to tackle child sexual abuse and will leave no stone in tackling this abhorrent behaviour”.

“As part of this, the home secretary has commissioned internal work to explore the characteristics of the groups involved in child sexual exploitation,” he said.

“The home office works with partners in law enforcement to understand the nature of group offending, including the characteristics of offenders, victims and the situations in which the offending takes place, all of which have critical bearing on how best to prevent and tackle this type of abuse.”

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